


1874>, 




^-^ 



''-f. 'M 




X ::j^, 




Book - 



■^^^ 



The CHRISTIAN'S Duty 



IN REFERENCE 



TO THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 



BEING AN EXTRACT FROM THB 
OP 

. REV, WM, BACON STEVENS, D.D.,LLD„ 

TO THB 

CONVENTION OF THE DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
l^JL.ir 17, 1876. 



Published by order of the Convention. 



PHILADEIiPHIA: 

McCalxa & STAVEiiY, Pbintbks, 237-9 Dock St. 
1876. 



At a Meeting of the Convention of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, In the Diocese of Pennsylvania, held 
May 17th, 1876, It was 

Resolved, J^em. Con., That so much of the Bishop's 
Address as refers to the Centennial and the observance 
of the Lord's Day be requested for Immediate publi- 
cation. 

John A. Childs, Secretary. 






The CHRISTIAN'S Duty 



IN REFERENCE TO 



THE CENTENNIAL YEAR; 

Being an Extract from the Ammal Address of tlie Rt. Rev. 

Win. Bacon Stevens, D.D., LL.D., to the Convention 

of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, May 17, 1876. 



Meeting in the midst of this Centennial Year, and 
almost within the precincts of the great International 
Exhibition which marks that year, we cannot be in- 
different to its presence and its influence. While, 
as a nation, we have the highest occasion for render- 
ing thanks to Almighty God, for the long catalogue of 
national mercies by which this century has been dis- 
tinguished ; and while it is eminently proper that the 
occasion should be used for such an international ex- 
hibition, as shall show our own growth in all the mate- 
rial arts and agencies of civil and social, life ; yet we 
must not, as Christians, and especially as Christian 
ministers, shut our eyes to the very serious evils which 
necessarily accompany and follow, such an Influx into 
our midst of nations and tongues and people from all 
quarters of the globe. 

I feel, therefore, that It Is incumbent on me, as Over- 
seer of the Diocese In which this exhibition Is held, and 
in which the Centennial anniversary of the nation's 



birth is to be celebrated ; to call the attention particu- 
larly of my brethren of the clergy, to the moral dangers 
which threaten us during this exciting year. 

That this exhibition will foster that spirit of worldli- 
ness which even now is, alas, so prominent in the 
Church, cannot for a moment be doubted. The con- 
centration of the public thought upon the scenes and 
events of the exhibition, will intensify the secularism of 
the day and fill to the brim, the heart and mind with 
earthly and material influences. 

It is a hard struggle at all times to "set our affections 
on things above, not on things on the earth," to sit 
loose to the world, and to "walk by faith" "in the midst of 
a crooked and perverse generation;" how much more 
difficult will it be, when such objects of paramount ex- 
citement are ever present and are the theme of every 
tongue. Is there not danger, that in the rush of en- 
thusiasm, and amidst the busy industries of sight-seeing 
and the attractions of a six months gala, that the 
religious life will be weakened and the hold of divine 
things on our minds be relaxed, and our faith lose its 
streneth and the world reo^ain much of its now lost 
ascendancy? Ought we not, therefore, most diligently 
to watch over our several flocks, and warn them from 
time to time against this in-rushing flood of worldliness, 
which gathers headway as it flows, and will, if un- 
checked, sweep away every vestige of holiness and 
faith ? There is no necessary antagonism between 
such exhibitions, where the grandest products of human 
skill, and the proudest triumphs of the human mind 
are gathered together for the inspection and admira- 
tion of all men ; — and the cultivation of true a-odliness. 
On the contrary, such exhibitions, viewed rightly and by 



a devout spirit, rather enhance faith and love, as they 
lead the mind to adore Him w ho gav.e men such minds 
and endowed them with such powers; and thus through 
the visible and the material, are they brought into 
closer relation with the unseen and the spiritual Yet 
such Is the earthward proneness of the heart, that it 
readily yields to the slightest earthly tendencies ; and 
when so many, and various influences will be brought 
to bear down upon, and crush out, Individual piety, we 
shall fail of our duty. If we fail to lift up warning voices 
and do what In us lies, in the pulpit, in the chancel, in 
the pastoral visit, to cherish and keep alive that fire of 
devotion which should "ever be burnino- on the altar" of 
the heart. 

We are In great danger, also, of losing our long 
cherished sanctity of the Lord's day. We cannot look 
upon the efforts made in our midst to break down the 
sacredness of the Lord's Day without the saddest fore- 
bodings. Thus far this country, and especially this city, 
has been eminently distinguished for its observance of 
Sunday. This recognition of God's law established in 
Eden, and of God's right to one day in seven to be 
used specially in his service, has been one of our 
greatest national blessings, and one of the great an- 
chors which have kept us from drifting away from our 
fathers' God, the God who gave us this good land and 
this heritage of freedom. Now, however, we fear that 
the entering wedge is prepared, by which the enemies 
of God's law and God's day, will eventually split asunder 
the hitherto close union of that holy day with all that 
Is dear and sacred to us as citizens and as Christians ; 
robbing us of our civil and moral birthright to this day 
of rest, and trampling the Fourth Commandment 



under the feet of the enemies aHke of God's law, and 
of man's best interest. 

The Lord's Day is interhnked with the hohest things 
of God — His Word, His worship, His Church, His 
Ministry, His Sacraments, His law, His kingdom on 
earth. The destruction of this day would be the de- > 
struction of each of these, so far as these have any 
bearing on man ; for desecrate the day with which these 
things are specially associated, and the things them- 
selves will soon become weak and worthless. 

Even in a worldly point of view, no true student of 
history or thoughtful observer can fail to see that 
the reverent observance of the Lord's Day is indis- 
solubly connected with our national character, great- 
ness and perpetuity. A nation bereft of its Sunday 
would soon become debased in morals, infidel in re- 
ligion, anarchical in government. 

The remark made by an African Prince in England 
some years ago, that "he knew that the Bible was of 
God because he noticed that good men loved it and 
bad men hated it,'' is true of the Lord's Day also. Good 
men love it, and in proportion to the fervor of their 
love to God, is their delight in His Holy Day. Bad 
men hate it, and in proportion to their badness is their 
dislike of its sacredness and restraint. How evident 
is this when you put into two classes, the friends and 
the enemies of the Lord's Day, and mark out, who and 
what, they severally are. 

Voltaire confessed that he despaired of overthrow- 
ing Christianity so long as the Sabbath stood in his 
way ; and what a nation will become when this Lord's 
Day is set aside, you will find recorded in the history 
of that French Revolution, when a harlot was en- 



throned as the Goddess of Reason, and when death 
was declared to be an eternal sleep. And here let me 
quote the words of Count Montalembert in his report 
to the French Parliament shortly after the overthrow 
of the French Republic, in which he thus pleads for the 
full restoration of the Sabbath: "In all our towns and 
throughout a too large portion of our country districts, 
the Sabbath's rest is violated and the worship, which 
was the consequence and condition of this rest, is 
abandoned. At the same time the soul is deprived of 
its nourishment and the body of Its repose. The poor 
man, the working man, are delivered up, tinprotected 
to the every-day increasing influence of error and evil. 
Thtts the profanation of the day has become the rttin of 
the moral and physical health of the people, at the same 
time that it is the ruin of the family, and of religious 
liberty r 

Brethren, I cannot stop here to argue this question, 
but I call upon each clergyman in this Diocese to stand 
unflinchingly on this Holy Day and defend it as an in- 
stitution of God ; as an institution of our Holy Catho- 
lic Church ; as an institution on which depends our 
very life and liberty as a Christian nation. 

Never In our history were warning voices more 
needed than now, to tell the people of the threatened 
danger, and to teach them the true laws of reverence for 
Divine institutions ; and that the very existence of the 
Christian religion in this country, stands or falls with 
the keeping, or the not keeping, the Fourth Command- 
ment. 

Another danger which I fear is the neglect of the 
means of Grace. Owing to the fact that every one of 
our family circles will be swelled by the presence of 



8 

visitors to the exhibition, many of whom will come from 
foreign lands, bringing with them thoughts and prac- 
tices alien to our own, there will result a danger of re- 
laxing our strong hold on the importance of Church- 
going, and there will be a temptation to yield to influ- 
ences around us, and give up too much the services of 
the Sanctuary and the ordinances of Grace. 

Each Christian needs carefully to watch over him- 
self, and seek Divine strength and grace to withstand 
all such temptation, and to be vigorous and vigilant in 
the cause of Christ. The times especially demand that 
to our faith, that profession which we have already made 
in baptism, ratified in confirmation, and sealed in the 
Holy Communion, we should add Virtue — that manly 
courage, that high-toned sense of Christian honour, 
that noble resolve to be truly Ipyal to our dear Lord, that 
boldness in defense of trutli, all which is included in 
that one word, Virtue. We may do much for Christ 
by this steadfastness in the faith, and we may, by a 
fickle and temporizing course, wound him seriously in 
the House of His friends. 

In specifying these dangers, incident to the circum- 
stances which surround us, I have called your attention 
to only a few, others will come to your own minds, but 
these I have pointed out, because you, my brethren, 
may do much by your faithful and judicious labors to 
ward them ofT or weaken their force. 

It is especially desirable that all our Churches should 
be kept open with full services every Sunday. That 
each V^estry should detail members of its own body or 
other suitable persons to meet strangers at the Church 
doors, and conduct them to elio-ible seats. That there 
should be put up, on some part of the Church building, 



neat tablets, with the name of the Church, its Rector, 
and its hours of service. That monthly committees 
should be appointed in each parish, which should take 
turns in looking out for strangers, especially those of 
our own household of faith, and secure, if possible 
their attendance on our services. That broad sheets, 
containing the names, and locations, and Rectors of our 
principal Churches, with the hours of worship, and a 
cordial invitation to be present, be placed in the lead- 
ing hotels, and in such places within the Exhibition 
Grounds, as may be best suited to arrest the attention 
of the English-speaking visitors. That efforts be made 
to bring our Christian Brethren from other countries 
Into our Sunday Schools, that they may see the practi- 
cal working of these schools, and the buildings set 
apart for them. In fine, let us regard this Exhibition 
as a Providential call upon us collectively, as Parishes, 
and individually, as Christians, to do all the good we 
can in the wonderful opportunity which it opens before 
us. We must ever seek to do good and to get good, 
for we have much to learn as well as much to teach, 
and a diligent use of these few months, when we are 
permitted to sow the Divine seed beside all waters, 
will, in the end, bring forth fruit to the welfare of man 
and the glory of God. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



^ 

^ 


'^vjS/ .^ 




i^ 1 


s 


^^^^ ' 


^ 


r"H: ^ ! 


"^A 


\^^^^ ' 



